Parents Kill Their Children and Themselves After Believing Mom Had Terminal Disease

A couple who recently moved from Switzerland to Utah planned a murder-suicide that left their family of four dead in November after they believed the mother was suffering from a terminal disease, a new police report stated.

Jessica Griffith, 43, believed she had ovarian cancer and texted her husband Timothy Griffith on Oct. 25, 2017, about picking a “good time to leave” so they would be together and “love for eternity.” The police report was made public on Wednesday. An autopsy, however, found Jessica Griffith was healthy before she died, Mapleton police Chief John Jackson said Thursday.

It’s not clear why she spoke with her husband about her pain and sent him links to ovarian cancer websites, Jackson said. People reported Timothy Griffith was researching mass shootings, guns and sleeping pills online.

Timothy used a pistol to shoot his sedated wife, her 16-year-old daughter and the couple’s 5-year-old son, Alexendre Griffith, along with the family’s German shepherd before killing himself.